09.

Naruto © Masashi Kishimoto
Bloodstream © Hurlstien

UPDATE! Chapters 5,6 and 7 have been merged and so have chapters 8 and 9, which means there are now less chapters in the story.
Thought I'd let you guys know so you weren't confused! [08.04.18]


HUNTER KILLER

(she looks to me alright)

Don't hate me now.

Scaled skin shivered over hard flesh.

"Stopstopstop- Hezā, stop!"

Kemushi's voice couldn't have sounded any further away. It echoed into the crevices of her numb mind.

Bones forced through her skin, splitting and ripping muscle. Blood spattered the ground.

"Ican'tIcant- I can't help you like thislikethislikethis."

She dove for him, craving claws through flesh. Kemushi's arm came up to block, mutated into a huge webbed hand. Just his arm.

Don't hate me.

And then her hand was through his chest.

Kemushi.

Violently sucking a lungful of air, she woke. Resuscitating herself into clarity. Heart pumping and sweat beading on skin, she lay there and panted heavily. She didn't move, only closed her eyes and let herself breathe. A minute passed, then her arm craned up and flopped over her eyes.

'Why that one?' She thought. 'I used t'have that dream all'a time, but I've not dreamt in years.' She frowned. 'It never use'ta go like that either; I never–' Her eyes snapped open as she replayed stabbing Kemushi though the chest with her own hand. She quickly closed them again. 'I never killed 'im… I never killed 'im because that's not what happened.' The dream had come about after that same scenario had happened in real life. She'd attacked her only friend. She couldn't even remember why.

She took a deep breath and struggled to sit up. Her nose throbbed and there was a lingering ache in her muscles from the terror and adrenalin that had wreaked havoc through her body yesterday. Her stab wound groaned in pain as she sat there, giving herself a few seconds before she shuffled her feet beneath her and, on quaking knees, stood. Kakuzu was gone, his quilt drawn back to air the sheets beneath. His cloak, which he'd made Hezā wriggle out of and under her own quilt last night, was gone too. She gripped the quilt tight around her shoulders and made for the door. Out in the hall, she found herself at the dead-end where a window looked out on bright green grass, sunlight streaming in. Turning away, she shuffled along the corridor, coming to an open plan kitchen and dinning room. Hidan was stood twisting and popping his back, grinning in satisfaction while Kakuzu was sat pouring over a map at the table, his cloak draped over the chair back, his mask hung down beneath his chin as he sipped on a cup of tea.

"Mornin'," Hezā greeted, finding it odd to be so ordinary around these two. Hidan didn't seem to hear her, while Kakuzu glanced his green eyes up to meet hers, then returned them to the map. "Where… where we goin'?"

"Bounty hunting," Kakuzu said, not looking up, "You're staying here."

"What?"

"You deaf?" Hidan asked, looking up from inspecting the blades of his scythe. Then he scoffed and pointed at her, "Besides, you can't go out looking like that. You'll draw too much attention." Hezā frowned and looked in the mirror on the wall to her left. In its oval reflection she saw her nose was a bright blue, mottling into purple. More blood had dribbled out of it during the night, painting drunken lines across her cheeks and she pulled a face.

"You're too injured to travel right now," Kakuzu said, folding the map and rising from the table. "You'll stay here with Eda until we return." He pulled on his cloak, drew up his mask and made for the door. Hidan threw her one last amused look, before following him into the bright sunlight, Hezā hurrying after them.

Stepping out, the girl recoiled from the glare, squinting, but she enjoyed the feel of warm soil beneath her feet as she walked off the wooden decking and followed them away from the house, toward the tree line. "When'll that be?"

"A week."

"A week?" She stopped. "What am I meant to do for a week?"

"Eat and sleep, you lucky shit." Hidan said as he pointed at her again. "If your sorry ass ain't ready to move by the time we get back, you'll regret it." And with that, he turned away and leapt up into the boughs of the trees, disappearing from sight.

She stared after him, then looked to Kakuzu. "It's at times like these that you should take stock of what happened and learn from your mistakes," he said, "Think on your misdoings. You might find more than one chink in your armour that needs mending." He paused. "And don't move around too much, the stitches will come loose." Then he was gone, too.

Hezā didn't move, standing there in the grass with a thin quilt wrapped about her shoulders.

"Standing already? My, aren't we tough." The voice of Eda made her jump and she cursed inwardly at being so easily spooked by an old woman. Turning, and forcing a small smile, Hezā gave a short nod to her new caretaker stood on the porch, then she turned away again to stare at the branches her superiors had disappeared into. She must have looked sorry for herself because before she knew it, Eda was by her side, stood barefoot in the grass. "You know, I used to be a shinobi." Hezā turned her head a little, eyebrows pinching up. "And I never met anyone as strong as those two." Eda smiled at her. "Stop worrying, dear. They'll be fine."

"Worryin'?"

"Your body language says everything you don't."

She was silent for a moment. "Jus' don't like bein' left behind is all… but," Hezā returned her gaze to the trees, "S'not like I'd be any help, I'd only get in th'way if I went with 'em."

Eda chuckled. "I know that feeling. It's why I retired when I was still just a Genin." Hezā looked back at her. "I gave it all up to do what I loved," she gestured to the surrounding wild garden and cottage ensconced in the small clearing. "Tending to nature." It was only now that Hezā took the time to look at her surroundings. The moss-covered cottage wasn't covered in just moss, but vines and creeping bushes. The garden was wild and overgrown, the plants in it thriving with vitality. Even the cliff behind the property hadn't been spared as more vines and moss steadily crawled up the rocks. The smell was sweet and fresh and crisp, intoxicating. A bird's nest was nestled on the wooden slats of the roof and dust motes danced lazily in the dappled green light.

"S'beautiful," Hezā said. She meant it, but she was finding it hard sound enthusiastic. She was no good at meeting new people, she was even worse at making friends. 'Besides that Suri kid, she called me a friend,' she thought. At least, she had until Kakuzu tried to kill her that night.

"It's actually all part of my Kekkei Genkai. Any one who's not meant to be here, won't find us," Eda tapped her nose and Hezā cocked a brow, "they'll just see a lot of plants."

And at that, Hezā actually managed a smile. "That sounds pretty cool, actually."

"Darn straight it does." Eda was looking at the young girl, who in turn was staring at the trees again. "Here," the woman bent to pick up something from the ground and Hezā cast her a sideways glance. In her hand was a stick of red Heather, bordering on purple. She held it out to her.

"What's that?" She asked, managing to pinch the flower between her thumb and forefinger without letting the blanket slip from her shoulders.

"Your namesake," The old woman gave her a look. "You mean you've never seen the plant you were named after before?" Hezā shook her head. "As I recall, it means–"

"Solitude and protection." Hezā finished, remembering what the little girl, Suri had told her the day they met. God, that seemed so long ago now.

"Hmm, correct," Eda smiled, "But it also represents healing, good fortune and immortality."

Hezā stayed silent.

"I assume you are with those men for an important mission."

"Yeah."

Eda nodded. "Well, I won't pry. But if you wish it, you may use my small collection of books. It's not much, but it may have some helpful information for you."

"Actually," Hezā started, recalling her need to remember the Sumitsuki technique, "That would be very useful, thank you."

"I'll bring them to your room later," she said, smiling, "In the meantime, I think its best we find something for you to wear, other than that blanket."


After three days she'd still learnt nothing.

Hezā's eyes were dull with boredom and her body felt like it was rusting as she stared at the pages spread out on the futon before her. She yawned. None of this made much sense. She recognised all the hand sign diagrams but had no idea what the writing around them said. From what she could gather this was a simple chakra exercise scroll. The unrolled parchment next to it babbled about chakra nature judging by the drawing of the elements. Hezā had no idea what her elemental chakra was, or if she was even capable of using it. From what she knew, most ninja couldn't use it proficiently enough for it to be any help in battle. She remembered Orochimaru telling her that only around 40% of all shinobi ever discovered and used their elemental chakra. Even rarer were the ones who could use two.

'Kakuzu can use all of 'em.'

Looking over at the man's empty futon she breathed in. It still smelt of him. Fresh churned earth after a heavy rain with a warm scent of leather musk.

She sighed and flicked the elemental scroll shut. Adjusting the creamy night gown Eda had lent her –which she must've bought around fifty years ago, judging by the design– she forced her gaze back to the chakra scroll. She stared furiously at the diagrams, hoping something, anything, would go in and make sense… then she frowned, an idea coming to her and she folded her fingers into the seal of confrontation, index and middle digit straight, ring and pinkie curled down. She felt for her chakra and found it twisting gently, it's slow flow matching her body in its sluggish state. As a warmup she focused it to different parts of her body, feeling the tell-tale tingle through her skin wherever it gathered.

'I need to practise for the Sumitsuki anyway,' she thought then sucked in a breath when she felt her chakra bunch up. It almost seemed to mash together at the anxious feeling that swam in her chest. The feeling that overcame her whenever she thought about the looming threat of Orochimaru and completing her objective, the whole reason she'd been paired with two homicidal maniacs. But what she hadn't realised before was how her chakra reacted to such feelings. Was this finally a way to control her Kekkei Genkai? To test the theory, she thought back to five days previous, to the meeting with Moriaki and pictured his fat face sneering down at her, the fear she'd felt– her heart skipped a beat as her chakra spasmed and swirled violently, forcing its way through her body as the Curse Mark twitched with the residual trauma of what happened. Immediately she stopped her meditation and breathed in deep.

'Too risky fer'that.' She didn't want to tempt fate and end up accidently mutating again. How would she explain that to Kakuzu and Hidan? 'Yeah, sorry I trashed our safehouse an' killed the only person for miles who was willin' to help us.' Somehow, she didn't think Kakuzu's thus far docile mood toward her would last long after that. She reached up to touch the curling black mark on her shoulder. It was still tender and raised like a tumour. 'Moriaki… you bastard.' She wondered if she would always relate that man's memory to terror, if she would ever get over it. The sheer control he'd had over her life had been ridiculous. She'd never been in such a helpless and humiliating situation like that before, and she never wanted to again.

'But when I stopped being afraid… I could control it.'

"Because of Hidan." She whispered. It had been the familiar sight of him that had calmed her. She scoffed, but it was true. All the fear had just seemed to melt away and she found that incredibly odd considering the man had tried to kill her himself in the not too distant past.

'I already knew my Curse Mark went whacko when I felt Orochimaru's chakra nearby,' she thought back to the fight on the lake when she'd been dragged under, 'Or when I'm scared for my life… but I didn't know givin' in t'more fear only made it worse. Guess I jus' thought it was hopeless, that there was no goin' back once I'd mutated.' It was vital information, but it would be harder to put into action, she knew. Perhaps her Kekkei Genkai would be easier to manipulate. Now that she knew how much her chakra reacted to her feelings, she would be able to have more control of what type of poisons she could create.

It's down to your chakra behaving so drastically with your blood.

That's what Kakuzu had said that day at the inn. Because of her Kekkei Genkai, her chakra and blood were interwoven on a whole new level compared to other people. It was down to this that her clan's average life span was so short; her body was relentlessly poisoning itself with its own bloodstream, then her chakra would set to work moulding an antidote, increasing enzymes here, reducing proteins there, until her blood was no longer a threat to her. But that same antidote soon became too much, and as quickly as it had saved her, it would poison her. She was trapped in a constant cycle of destruction and repair. It had to take its toll at some point.

'That's prob'ly why it takes me so long t'heal,' she thought as she ran a finger across the scar on her cheek Hidan had given her just over four weeks ago. There was still some scab left lining the cool red mark as it sliced from just under her left eye, to her ear tab. It hadn't been that deep, and yet it still hadn't healed completely. She glanced down at the empty space where her left arm should be. 'No wonder everyone was convinced I'd die back then.' The damage would've been critical for anyone, never mind a young girl with crappy healing abilities. Once she'd finally recovered, she remembered Kemushi telling her that Orochimaru had been close to switching off the life support machine by her bed. And that it had been Sasori who had stopped him.

Call it curiosity, was all the man had said when questioned about it later. But whatever it had been, Hezā thanked him.


His hands were as red as the mud they slipped in.

"Leave or die."

Simple choice. Harder actions.

Hashirama.

The man's long brown hair whipped in the wind. Kakuzu kept his gaze on the mud he knelt in. Never had he faced such a foe.

"Leave or die."

Fail or fall.

"Kakuzu."

He looked up, and there she stood, proud against the crimson sky.

Akina.

His hands curled in the blood churned mud.

"Couldn't kill him. But you could kill me."

She knelt with him. Her right arm curling around his neck, cupping the back of his head. A bloody hole where her left arm should have been stared back at him. He frowned.

Hezā?

"Go!"

She smacked her head into his with such a force he reeled back. And before the earth fell away he saw her smile. Her brazen wink.

His back hit the ground and he snapped his eyes open. All five of his hearts gave a quiver. But glaring at the back of Hidan's head, he remembered where he was. Slowly he let out the breath he'd been holding and sat up. The forest was calm around him, a thin mist creeping through the undergrowth. It would be burnt off come midday. He closed his eyes for a moment, feeling the pain of her headbutt linger in his forehead. It was funny how your mind could make you believe anything, not matter how absurd, no matter how hopeless.

'Do I not have anything more interesting to dream about?'

Apparently not.

Deciding not to dwell on it, Kakuzu pulled out his book and canteen, took a swig, then settled himself against the nearest tree to read. Another hour passed before Hidan woke with a heavy groan. But he stayed horizontal, only moving to scratch himself and stretch. Kakuzu continued to sit and read his book, content in the knowledge that the briefcase by his knee held sixty million ryō safely inside. The bounty they had bagged had been a tough one, and had called on them to work together, which, when push came to shove, neither of them really minded.

Kakuzu-san.

His eyes stopped moving across the page.

Hidan-san.

His partner gave a grunt of disapproval.

Report.

"Yeah Leader, I got one; do you know how God-damned early it is?" Hidan grouched, rolling onto his back.

"We found Moriaki," Kakuzu said, ignoring the priest as Pein's connection strengthened in his mind, it's presence like a cold hand curling over his brain.

And?

"Hidan killed him."

"Oh, I see how it is! Blame me straight away!" Hidan yelled as he quickly sat up.

"At least now you're awake."

"I was awake to begin with, asshole!"

Inside their heads Pein cleared his throat.

"It turns out he was searching for us just as we were searching for him," Kakuzu said, "He was after the secret to immortality and the formulae for Orochimaru's Curse Mark, most likely to sell the latter on to a third party. Hidan and the subordinate were captured."

There was a short silence. Hidan was taken captive?

"Kakuzu, you shit! I was outnumbered!" Hidan yelled, pointing at his partner who watched him with smug eyes. "And where the fuck were you anyway?!"

I trust you have everything under control.

"Yes. They killed all witnesses."

"No thanks to you, dick."

Good.

Kakuzu grunted. "One more thing. The subordinate travelling with us, she has trouble containing her Curse Mark."

"Oh boy, does she," Hidan chimed in, "She barely even goes through stage one! Just straight to stage two. From what I could tell, she reacts to pain and fear, it only makes the mutation faster."

Kakuzu allowed an appraising glance at his partner who noticed his staring and flipped him the bird. As dull as Hidan could be, recognising when a person was suffering and afraid, no matter how well they hid it, was something of a speciality of his. "Indeed, it's proved troublesome in the past. Would you know of any way to seal it?"

There was silence in their heads and Hidan mouthed 'USELESS' at Kakuzu. He raised his eyebrows.

Yes. I'll have Zetsu deliver a scroll to your location. Luckily, he also has another lead for you to pursue. Try not to kill this one prematurely… Hidan.

The man scoffed.

"We're staying at the safe house in Grass Country for now," Kakuzu said.

He'll be there in two days.

And he was gone.

"Man, I hate that guy," Hidan said, flopping back into the grass.

"You hate everyone."

"True, but him most of all!"

"Funny, I thought I was number one on your little list."

"Che! Close second, dipshit."

Kakuzu couldn't care less about Hidan's personal hate list as he took another sip from his canteen and returned to his book to finish the chapter. Birdsong tittered through the trees as the sun grew brighter, casting dappled shadows down upon them. And, as it rarely did, amicable silence reigned over them as each was content to ignore the other.

"Hey, Kakuzu."

The falls-nin grunted.

"What do we do with the kid once this mission is over?"

"We dispose of her."

Hidan sat up and popped his neck. "Sounds good to me. Shall we go?"

Kakuzu hummed in agreement, put away his book and stood to follow, grabbing the briefcase as he went. Eyeing the back of his partner's head, he knew exactly what Hidan was thinking; using the girl as a sacrifice for his stupid religion. And Kakuzu had half the mind to tell the priest he wouldn't allow it, that she deserved better than that. But why? 'Because after all she's been through helping them, torturing her before killing her would be ungrateful?' He asked himself sarcastically. He shook his head, and for the second time that morning, decided not to dwell on it.


Returning to his room two days later at gone one in the morning, Kakuzu found the light still on and his subordinate sprawled on her side, four scrolls in disarray on the futon beside her.

'She actually listened,' he thought. 'At least I'm not dealing with a complete imbecile.' She was laid on her right side with her arm tucked beneath her head, fast asleep upside down on the mattress, her feet where her head should be, buried beneath the pillow to keep them warm. Then his eyes found the blood seeping through the old-style night gown Eda must have given her and his frown deepened. 'Or not.'

He crossed the room, put down the money-stuffed briefcase and took off his cloak. Then he toed her in the back. "Wake up." She mumbled something. He toed her again, harder this time. "Wake. Up." She groaned and rolled onto her back to look up at him, eyes blurry from sleep. Then she screamed.

It was probably the fastest he'd ever seen her move as she launched herself across the room, slamming her back into the wall, before she realised it was him. He glared at her and she gulped. "You scared the shit outta me! Wasn't expectin' t'see you…"

"Who else would it be?" He sneered.

"Could'a been a serial killer or… somethin'…"

Odd how that wasn't far from the truth.

Kakuzu pinched the bridge of his nose while he reached out his other hand. Hezā stared at him, then felt a weird sensation as the stiches in her stomach shivered. In one swift movement, they shot from her skin, out from under the night gown and returned to Kakuzu.

"OW!"

"Shut. Up."

And, as if in agreement for once, there came a bang from the other side of the wall accompanied with a yell from Hidan of: "SHUT THE FUCK UP!"

Kakuzu sighed. "Clean yourself up," he gestured to the bathroom door. "I won't have you bleeding everywhere. I get enough of that from Hidan." Holding her stomach and gritting her teeth, Hezā nodded and left to shower herself down. Ten minutes passed as Kakuzu cleared the scrolls off her bed and kicked off his sandals. He untied the sash from around his waist, removed his headgear and pulled off his top, folding everything into a pile together beside his bed. Then he took out his book and sat cross-legged between the two futons, reading as he waited. Hezā soon returned, dressed once again in the bloodstained night gown, and stood, waiting for him to tell her what to do. "Get under the covers and pull the gown up." He ordered, putting his book down. She did as he said so the quilt covered her lower half and hiked the dress up to rest beneath her breasts, so the slit in her skin grimaced clearly under the light. Now able to get a close look, Kakuzu noted the wound had been doing well, until she managed to pull it open again.

He glowered at her. "I thought I told you not to move around too much."

"I didn't," she protested, "It was fine before I fell asleep."

The man was silent for a moment. "Lucky for you the stitching through the muscle is still intact."

She looked at him. "You mean there's another one o'those," she glanced from his thick forearm, where a ring of black threads grinned at her, to her stomach, "inside me?"

He nodded. "The stab wound Hidan suffered and shared with you sank around an inch deep, the muscle was affected but not severed."

"How can y'tell jus' by lookin'?"

"These threads are part of me, I know when they come loose. Now," he hovered a hand over her belly and a thin thread wriggled out from his skin halfway up his arm. He looked her in the eye. "Don't scream again."

And she didn't. She bit her finger as the suture dove in and out of her stomach, but nothing more than a groan of discomfort escaped her. Finishing up, Kakuzu picked up his book once more, switched off the light and moved to lay on his own futon, content to finally rest.

"Thank you," Hezā said through the dark, feathering a finger over the fresh stitching, "Not just f'this, but fer'before too, with the cloak and stitching me up originally."

"Don't mention it." He said it like he really didn't want her to mention it ever again. "Now go to sleep, you'll need strength tomorrow."

Hezā didn't like the way he said that but decided it best not to bother him any longer. And so, settling on her side, she fell asleep to the sight of Kakuzu's silhouette against the open window and the gentle smell of night that drifted through it.


Please leave a review if you liked it!

I suck at dream sequences, getting it to be as disjointed and weird as a dream is hard, but I tried my best.
A lot of dialogue in this chapter, huh? I didn't mean for that to happen, I always try to balance out dialogue with as much paragraph work as I can, so there's a good mix of both. I feel it stops the story from flowing too fast or too slowly.

Like many people, I enjoy character development in a story, so I hope you guys don't think Kakuzu is getting OOC when it comes to Hezā, I'm trying to take it slow and let it be as realistic as possible.
Even though I know Hezā wouldn't have lasted a day with them in reality, haha!

Also, you may have noticed there is now a pairing for this story. I've always known there was going to be a closeness between Kakuzu and Hezā, so I feel I should probably let people know before they get invested with the story.
It will be light romance though, very slow burn. And when I say light I mean really fricking light!

Thank you to everyone who has reviewed, favourited and followed so far! It's so heart-warming each time I see a new favourite or review.

Thank you for reading!